Voting-booth.



A. D. ALBRECHT.

VOTING BOOTH.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 30, 1911.

1L. 1 9 1 wln 1 b c 0 d e t n .w a P 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. D. ALBRECHT.

VOTING BOOTH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, '191 1.

I Patented 0ct.17,1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. D. ALBRECHT.

VOTING BOOTH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30 1911. lflwfi o Patented Oct. 17,1911.

3 SHEETSBHEET 3.

A0 Ewes 5Q?" I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADELMEIt D. ALBRECHT, OF GREENVILLE, ILLINOIS.

VOTING-BOOTH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADELMER D. ALBRECHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greenville, in the county of Bond and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Booths, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawmgs. v

This invention relates to improvements in knockdown or collapsible voting booths, and has for its object to provide a sectional booth of the above character which may be very quickly assembled in position for use, and is extremely rigid when set up so that no fastening means are required.

Another object of my invention resides in the provision of a plurality of foldable booth sections adapted to be connected and arranged in series, and removable writing shelves, supported by the adjacent booth sections.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a knockdown frame for voting booths which may be very compactly arranged for transportation, and is light, durable, and comparatively inexpensive in construction. With the above and other objects in view, the invention 'consists of the novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a series of voting booths constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view of one complete booth frame and a sectional frame in position to be connected to the complete frame. Fig. 3is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail section taken on the line 4.4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the writing shelves, and Fig. 6 is a pers ective view showing the booth frames olded, the screen cloths or curtains arranged between the writing shelves.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5 indicates the vertical angular corner bars of the main booth frame to which the frame section of the next adjacent booth is adapted to be connected. The front and rear corner bars 5 are connected intermediate their ends by the transverse bars 6, and a longitudinal bar 7 connects the rear corner bars of the frame.. These bars 6 and 7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 30, 1911.

Patented Oct. 17, 1911. Serial No. 605,496.

are pivoted at their ends to the corner bars and are adapted to move upon the same when the booth frame is collapsed or knocked down. The corner bars 5 at each side of the booth are further braced by means of the inclined bars 8 which are pivoted at their lower ends to the rear corner bars and at their upper ends to the transverse connecting bars 6; A second inclined brace bar 9 is pivoted at its lower end to the front corner bars 5, and at its upper end to the main brace bar 8. A brace 10 also connects one of the rear corner bars to the longitudinal bar 7 and the second rear bracing bar 11 is pivoted to the other of the rear corner bars and to the bar 10. These inclined brace bars 8, 9, 10 and 11, are adapted to fold upon each other when the booth frame is knocked down for transportation. One end of the bar 7 is notched as shown at 12 for removable engagement with a threaded stud 13 carried by one of the rear corner bars 5. A wing nut 14 is threaded upon this stud for clamping engagement upon the connecting bar of the section frame of the next adjacent booth as will more fully hereinafter appear.

lVhen the main booth frame has been set up as shown in Fig. 2, the section frame of the next booth is then arranged in position. This section frame constitutes the corner bars 5", which are braced by the bars 6, 8 and 9, pivoted to said corner bars in a similar manner to the corresponding bars of the main booth frame. A longitudinal bar 7 is detachably pivoted at one end to the rear corner bar 5' of the section frame, and is notched at its other end as shown at 12 for engagement over the stud 13, and is rigidly secured in position by means of the wing nut 14. The longitudinal bar 7 is braced from the rear corner bar 5 by means of the inclined bar 10. In the construction of the sectional booth frames, this single brace 10 for the rear longitudinal bar has been found 'to be amply sufiicient to secure the necessary rigidity of the structure, an additional brace 11 as in the main booth frame being unnecessary. The pivot stud of the rear longitudinal bar 7- of the sectional frame which connects said-bar to the angular corner bar I 5, is threaded in a similar manner to the stud carried by the main booth frame, and also has a clamping nut engaged thereon, thus it will be seen that as many of the sectional booth frames may be arranged in line,

and connected as may be found necessary,

and securely clamped in their assembled positions by means of the nuts 14.

When all of the frames have been properly assembled, the screens or curtains 15 are attached to the upper ends of the corner frame bars as shown in Fig. 1, so as to form the separate booths and provide the necessary privacy, each of the sectional booth frames forming one side of two adjacent voting booths. The writing shelves 16 are now arranged in position between the sides of the booth frames. Each of these shelves consists of a substantially rectangular sheet metal plate, the front and rear longitudinal edges of which are formed with the flanges 17. The end edges of these plates are also downwardly flanged as shown at 18. The

plate at the front flanged corners of the-same is cut away as indicated at 19, and at one end of said plate the flange 18 is disposed inwardly out of alinement with the main portion of said flange as shown at 18. At the rear corner of the other end of the shelf, the end of the flange 18 is extended beyond the body portion of said flange as shown at 18 In placing the shelves in position, the flange tongue 18 is engaged over one of the bars 6 or 6 of the booth frame, the main portion of the flange 18 being disposed upon the opposite face of said bar. At the other end of the shelf, the body or greater portion of the downturned flange 18 engages over the cross bar 6, sufficient space being provided between said flange and the inwardly disposed flange portion frame 18 to receive the corner flange tongue 18" formed on the plate shelf of the next adjacent booth. In-

this manner the writing shelves may be very quickly arranged in position between the sides of the booth frames, and also serve as additional braces between thesame.

. The booths may be very quickly collapsed and folded for transportation purposes, by removing the metal shelves, and then detaching the screens or curtains 15. The angular corner bars 5 and 5 of the booth frames are moved toward each other, the various con-.

necting bars between the same folding upon and between the corner bars and lying in substantially the same plane therewith, when the frame structure is entirely collapsed. It

In Fig. 6, I have illustrated the booth frames folded or collapsed, and have also shown a very convenient manner of arranging the sheets or curtains between the shelves 163. After the curtains 15 have been neatly folded, they are placed between the flanged edges of one of the shelves, and the other shelf disposed upon the same, the flanges of said shelves being engaged upon each other. A strap or other suitable fastening means may be then passed around the shelves, to afford convenient carrying means. In this manner it willbe seen that the device maybe very quickly and easily knocked down or arranged in its assembled position and by providing a plurality of angular brace bars, the necessity of employing other fastening means such as base plates formed on the corner bars to be screwed to the floor, is entirely eliminated.

The structure is extremely rigid when properly set up and the frame of each booth section serves as a support for that of the next adjacent section.

The device may be manufactured at a comparatively low cost, and is extremely strong and durable in practical use.

While I have shown and described the preferred construction and arrangement of various parts, it will be understood that the device is susceptible of a great many modifications without materially departing from the essential feature or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

I claim 1. A voting booth comprising corner bars and movable transverse connecting bars between the same, a writing shelf having flanges formed on its opposlte ends for engagement over the transverse connecting bars, portions of said flanges extending upon the inner faces of the connecting bars to permit of the engagement of the flanges on the ends of the next adjacent shelf over the same connecting bars.

2. A collapsible voting booth frame comprising front and rear corner bars, transverse connecting bars between said front and rear bars, means for connecting the booth frames together in series, a sheet metal shelf having its edges downwardly flanged, the flange on one end of the plate at one of its corners being disposed beyond the bodyportion of the flange and adapted to engage tver one of the transverse connecting bars between the corner bars, the flange on the opposite corner of the shelf being disposed. 

